LA CLIPPERS: The Clippers started this season with nine new players. They lost their starting backcourt (Chris Paul and J.J. Redick) and small forward (Luc Mbah a Moute). The turnover should offer plenty of intrigue in a division where every team seems to play for second behind the defending champion Warriors. Milos Teodosic may be one of the most intriguing new players in the league. The 30-year-old rookie and six-time all-Euro-League point guard finally makes his NBA debut on a team that lost one of the league's best point guards in Paul. Teodosic is a wizard passing the ball, but the Serbian shot only 44 percent in Europe and is hardly known for his defense.

MINNESOTA: It's playoffs or bust for Minnesota this season, which sounds crazy for a team that has not made the postseason since 2004. The West is stacked, but head coach Tom Thibodeau made the moves he did with the express purpose of ending the longest active playoff drought in the league. Jimmy Butler was brought in from the Bulls via trade to speed up to the team's development. He is the prototype for a Thibodeau player'intense, demanding and defensive-minded. His ability to make shots late in games should also help a team that struggled mightily to close out opponents last season, and his familiarity with Thibodeau should help the younger players on the team absorb more of the coach's teachings. If the second unit can prevent huge drop-offs from what is expected to be a formidable starting five, the Wolves should finally be able to remind their long-suffering fans that the season does not end in mid-April.

PREVIEW

Clippers seek end of skid against Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS -- With every contending team in the Western Conference winning, seemingly, every night, any loss can seem demoralizing.

The fourth through 10th teams in the West separated by a total of three games in the loss column, no one can afford a loss, let alone a poor stretch of games.

Take the Minnesota Timberwolves, for example.

Once sitting in third place in the West, Minnesota has tumbled without star Jimmy Butler. The Wolves started Sunday's game against Houston -- a possible first-round matchup -- in a tie for fifth place. New Orleans' win earlier in the day led to a true, four-way tie for fifth with the Pelicans, Utah, San Antonio and Minnesota all at 40-30.

When the Wolves' comeback bid against the Rockets fell short in a 129-120 loss, they tumbled to eighth in the conference.

"We put ourselves into too big of a hole," Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said. "You can't do that. Where we are right now, the fight has to be greater."

The Wolves host the Los Angeles Clippers (37-32) on Tuesday with Los Angeles clawing for any foothold in the climb to the playoffs. Just two games back in the loss column to Minnesota, the eight-place team, Los Angeles is lamenting its own slip.

Sunday's 122-109 loss to streaking Portland was the Clippers' third in a row.

"We realize we don't have a lot of room for error," Los Angeles guard Lou Williams told the Los Angeles Daily News. "There's a lot of teams that don't have a lot of room for error. Dire is one word, but at the end of the day, we can only go out and play as hard as we can."

After trading star Blake Griffin, the Clippers didn't seem like a playoff team. But Williams has continued his big scoring and Tobias Harris, who came over for Griffin, has averaged 20.1 points per game. Patrick Beverly, Avery Bradley and Danilo Gallinari are still out with injuries, but guards Austin Rivers and Milos Teodosic have gotten healthy.

Instead of health, travel might be the issue for the Clippers. Sunday's game in Los Angeles was their third in three cities in four nights. It was a one-game stop at home before beginning a four-game road trip at Minnesota. The Clippers are in a stretch of nine out of 11 games on the road.

"At this point, we've just got to win games," Austin Rivers told the Daily News. "I don't care if we have to play five games in five nights, we've just got to win games. Everybody's tired right now. Everybody's bruised. Everybody's trying to play catch-up.

"We've dropped a couple of games in a row. We've got to get it back going."

Minnesota is hoping to draw on their comeback attempt against Houston and bring the same energy all game against Los Angeles. The Wolves trailed by as many as 25 to the Rockets before closing to within five points.